Temple Mount

The Temple Mount (Hebrew: הר הבית, Har ha-Bayit) is the modern term for the hill in Jerusalem known as Mount Moriah, the former site of the BiblicalTemple of Solomon in the Old Testament, and Herod's Temple in the New Testament. Since Herod's time, the mount has been fortified as a large stone platform. The Temple Mount today bears on the site the IslamicDome of the Rock (Arabic: مسجد قبة الصخرة, Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah), built between 687-691 A.D. on the order of Abd al-Malik (the 9th Caliph); and the Al-Aqsa Mosque (built c. 710). The Temple Mount is also called in Arabic الحرم القدسي الشريف, al-Haram al-Qudsī ash-Sharīf, the Noble Sanctuary.